It is 11:30 CST and I couldn't make it till now to write this down today. Last sunday, I was at an extraordinary cultural program - Harikatha, which was originated from telugu speaking people.We need to preserve our Culture and that is where our good lies. It has been so long that some of us haven't even heard that word. This skill requires a sense of humour, ability to dance and sing, good oral skills and moreover, a good presence of mind. Hence, we can imply that it needs a lot of effort to do it.

It was Mrs. Jayanthi Savithri, from TTD - India who performed here. It was really a fantastic program. Her topic for that day was - Parvathi Kalyanam. I would like to talk briefly about a few things I remember from her presentation.

Seking blessings from Lord Vinayaka - the remover of obstacles, she started her program. It went like this:

The king of Himalayas - Himavantha once makes tapas for the eternal Mother seeking a child. Appreciating his tapas, The Mother materialises infront of him and offers him to choose between Her taking birth as a girl or having a boy. He chooses to have a girl. The Mother takes birth as the daughter of Himavantha and was named Parvathi because her father is king of mountains - Parvatharaja. From early childhood, she used to sevre Lord Shiva and Shiva Linga with utmost devotion.

One day, when she was five years old, Narada maharshi walks by her and She seeks his blessings. He blesses Her such that she gets married soon ( sheegrahmeva kalyana prapthirastu). Himavantha watches it and asks narada maharshi why he blessed a 5 year old girl to get marries soon. Narada maharshi reminds Himavantha that it is none other than the ultimate power- the Mother. And he describes the reason for her birth as hi daughter. It goes as follows.

If we have read Lingashtakam, we come across this phrase - "dakshasu yagna vinasaka lingam." Thats right! We are about to get Daksha prajapathi into scene. King Daksha had many daughters (appx 27 - not sure if it is 28), and one of them was Sati devi (incarntation of the divine Mother). She was married to Lord Shiva. One day, in king Daksha's court, when everyone including Lord Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma and others were present, king Daksha enters the court. As he was old, everyone respected him and stood up, except Lord Shiva. He was meditating and didn't knew what was going on around him. Daksha was angry with Lord Shiva, his son-in-law's behaviour and was very upset.

Then, Daksha conducts a very big yagna and invites everyone except Lord Shiva and Sati devi. Sati devi finds everyone busily going to yagna and gets to know about it from Narada maharshi. She lets lord Shiva know about it and asks Him to come with her to yagna. Infact, Lord Shiva is any yagna. He is the one who distributes the fruits of yagna to each of devatas. Without Him, nothing can be done. Lord Shiva says, "We are not invited for this yagna and so we cant go." Sati devi says that She doesn't need any invitation to go to "her home". Lord Shiva replies that after marriage, Her home is with Lord Shiva. That is why we have a tradition of sending brides to bridegroom's home. Lord Shiva offers her to go to Daksha with a very firm meaning in His words.

She goes to Her parents home, but Her mother and sisters doesn't respond to Her. Then She directly goes to king Daksha and asks for a reason for the happenings. With his ignorance, king Daksha.......

It was a 3 and half hour program and there is plenty of information. I will continue it in the next post. There might be a few mistakes or even blunders. Forgive my ignorance and let me know if I have to correct anything.